America's failure to back the principle of national self-determination over
Falklands continues to dog Britain's otherwise solid 'special relationship'
with the US, MPs say

Stanley, capital of the Falkland Islands, South AmericaPhoto: ALAMY

By Peter Foster in Washington

6:00AM BST 03 Apr 2014

America's failure to recognise the right of the Falkland Islands to national self-determination is "disappointing", a House of Commons inquiry into the health of the so-called special relationship declares this morning.

The report, released a day after the 32nd anniversary of theArgentinianinvasion of the South Atlantic islands, highlights British frustration that Washington has refused to support the rights of the islanders to decide their own future.

"We are disappointed that the US administration fails to give priority to the principle of self-determination in its position on sovereignty of the Falkland Islands," says the 67-page report by the Foreign Affairs Committee.

In an otherwise largely up-beat assessment of London's relationship with Washington, the committee grumbled at the Obama administration's desire, as one expert witness put it, to "play it both ways" over the Falklands issue.

The islands voted 99.8 per cent in favour of remaining a British Overseas Territory in a referendum in March last year, however America continues to remain "neutral" in the dispute, in order not to upset its relations with Argentina.

Banner saying "the Falkland Islands are and will always be Argentinian" (ALAMY)

Sir Nigel Sheinwald, Britain's ambassador to Washington until 2012, admitted to the committee that US position on the Falklands had been "uncomfortable...[and] not what we wanted".

Critics of the Obama administration argue that the current US stance does not even amount to "neutrality" since it calls for talks between Britain and Argentina in defiance of the clearly-expressed will of the Falkland islanders.

Luke Coffey, a former adviser to Liam Fox when he was Defence Secretary and now the Margaret Thatcher Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a Conservative think-tank in Washington, said the US had clearly "abandoned its long held position of neutrality" in the dispute.

"Negotiations over the status of the Falkland Islands is the official Argentine position. Instead of keeping quiet (neutral), under Obama's leadership, the US has started backing Argentina's calls for talks. This is a change from previous administrations and a departure from neutrality," he said.

In other key areas, the report was positive, praising the Coalition government for taking a less supine position towards the US that during the Blair years and supporting William Hague's formulation of the relationship as "solid not slavish".

It also found that the Commons vote against military intervention in Syria last year had not damaged the Special Relationship instead demonstrating the underlying depth and resilience of US-UK ties - a position not universally agreed upon in the Washington foreign policy community.

"I think that's a very optimistic assessment," said Fran Burwell, Director of the Transatlantic Relations Program at the Atlantic Council. "Big events like this feed into the growing perception in Washington that EU nations are no longer ready and willing to do what is necessary."

The committee also fretted about the impact in the US of the promised 2017 referendum on British membership of the European Union if the Conservatives win the next election, warning that the America might start to "hedge" against an exit by deepening ties with other European capitals, to Britain's detriment.

Meanwhile, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner claimed on Wednesday that the Falkland Islands serve as a nuclear base for the Nato alliance in the South Atlantic.

The islands, she said, "constitute a Nato military nuclear base in the South Atlantic - this is the truth that they can't continue to hide."

She alleged the archipelago is "among the most militarised areas in the world," saying some 1,500 soldiers and 2,000 civilian military personnel are stationed there amid a population of just 1,000.

Britain called the claims "wholly false" and said UK forces numbers have declined to the "minimum necessary to defend the Islands."